


Vs.

by kromi



Series: Present Day AU [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 21:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2707274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kromi/pseuds/kromi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The same Valentine's day -- two different couples</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01

Cotton has been hatching a plan for weeks. A great plan that must be a success with minimal chance of failure, and it all has to come together on Valentine's Day. It may be a bit of a cliché, but Cotton never was a man who didn't count on _good kind_ of clichés.

The first and indisputably the hardest part of his plan is to wake up before Jerry does. That's nearly impossible because Jerry always wakes up before Cotton. He has already had the time to brew a pot of coffee and have a morning smoke and read half the newspaper by the time Cotton finally drags his sleepy ass out of bed. He can't use an alarm clock: Jerry will wake up to it, and Cotton will not. He considers all kinds of noises that are out of norm, like putting some really weird ringtone on his phone and asking Ramona or someone to call him when he needs to wake up, but he doubts it'll wake him up, and it will most definitely wake Jerry up, because the man is a light sleeper. There's the problem: it's very unlikely Cotton can even sneak out of the bed without Jerry waking up to the tremors in the mattress or shifting of covers.

He considers getting Jerry very drunk the previous evening so that he will be so out of it he won't wake up even if someone were to drop a bomb on their house. But that would be mean, and he doesn't want Jerry to be hungover in the morning during his great, amazing plan.

He thinks about coming up with some reason for needing to stay the night somewhere else, but he still needs to get back to their apartment before it's time for Jerry to get up, and Jerry really wakes up to the smallest of sounds, especially if he's waiting for Cotton to come back home. And if he's not expecting Cotton to come home that day, he might wake up still because the front door opening and closing would be a very suspicious sound and Jerry is usually very aware of sounds that shouldn't be there.  
The only plan he comes up with is to just persistently stay awake the entire night without alerting Jerry to the fact that he is in fact awake. He needs to be in the bedroom and in the bed, and a possible target for unconscious nightly cuddling, otherwise there's the possibility that Jerry will wake up because something (that is Cotton not being in the bed) feels wrong. He can't have lights on because that might wake Jerry up. He would have to stay still without doing anything for six to eight hours while being very tired, so in the end the whole plan sounds horrible.

He goes with it anyway. He starts reading the first book of the Game of Thrones book series around bedtime, and when Jerry naturally asks Cotton why is he suddenly reading something (Cotton is _really_ not the reading type), Cotton just replies with a wink that maybe it has as much sex in it as the TV series. Jerry chuckles, tells Cotton he is going to be very disappointed, and sets out to sleep.

So far so good.

The book actually keeps Cotton entertained for a couple of hours at least, but then he starts to get sleepy, so he reaches for his laptop, plugs in the earbuds and starts watching some action movie. He watches two, and during the first one Jerry wakes up wondering why in the world Cotton is still awake in the middle of the night. Cotton quickly alttabs to word processor and the file he had opened just in case  _this_ happened, and explains that he forgot he had some work-related stuff due next day, so he's working on it now. Jerry sleepily accepts the explanation and cuddles close to Cotton, falling back asleep. Cotton finishes the movie, watches another one and he still has at least an hour to spend deathly tired next to his boyfriend he really wants to cuddle back, but if he does that he is certainly going to gonk out immediately and so much for his great, amazing, awesome Valentine's Day plan.

He goes back to the Game of Thrones and prays to all known gods that Jerry won't wake up anymore. When the clock is finally half past six and it's half an hour to Jerry's alarm, Cotton closes the book and once again prays to all known gods that he can get out of bed scot-free.

He slides off the bed like he's made of jell-o , ending up crouching on the floor, but at least Jerry still seems to be fast asleep and so Cotton sneaks to the bedroom door he left ajar in the evening, and slips past it, closing it as quietly as possible. It wouldn't be nice if Jerry woke up to the sounds coming from the kitchen either.

Then he sets his plan in the motion. He lays the table: two plates, knives and forks, cups for coffee and glasses for water, two red roses in a vase he hid in the walk-in closet the day before so that Jerry wouldn't see them. He sets the day's newspaper next to Jerry's plate. He makes sure everything's spotless and clean and the carpet's straight and the curtains drawn, and then he sets to making breakfast. Nothing fancy, just eggs over easy and strips of bacon with some sautéed vegetables, although he's sort of apprehensive that he is definitely going to fuck something up: he has never been good at cooking and the eggs might prove a challenge. He also brews a pot of really fancy and expensive Colombian hand-ground coffee he had ordered online: should make a huge difference to what they usually drink.

He also makes sure that he has the most important part of the whole plan safely in his pocket.

It doesn't go exactly as planned, since Jerry wakes up before his alarm and before the eggs or coffee are done, and appears in the doorway wearing one of Cotton's shirts (which are always gigantic on him since he's such a stick of a man) with his adorably out-of-control bed hair, eyes half-open and looking confused.

"What are you doing?" he asks sleepily. "You weren't in the bed, I got worried. Where are my good-morning kisses? Why are you up before me? What's going on?"

"Whoa, babe, enough with the questions, everything's okay," Cotton says, offering Jerry a bright grin. "I'm just making us a nice breakfast!"

"It smells nice," Jerry notices, slowly waking up.

"It's the coffee, wait until you get to taste it," Cotton says excitedly and turns the eggs and, whoops, that's a bit burned. Of course he was going to screw up at something. He frowns at the eggs. "Sorry babe, the eggs might not be perfect."

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine," Jerry says a bit absent-mindedly as he gets out his pack of cigarettes while taking a good look at the kitchen. A suspicious look falls over his features. "There are some shenanigans afoot," he points out.

Cotton looks a bit guilty and lifts the pan off the stove so that he won't ruin the eggs any more than he already did. The coffee also seems ready. "What an astute observation," Cotton says. "Can you guess what it is?"

"Not just a normal Valentine's Day breakfast, I'd wager," Jerry says and looks thoughtful, tapping the end of his unlit cigarette against the tip of his nose. "You haven't done anything that warrants an apology and either way I think apologies like these are _way_ overblown because just saying 'sorry' is enough. We're not celebrating anything. But it's not just for the heck of it?"

Cotton shakes his head, setting the eggs, bacon strips and sautéed vegetables on their plates and pours them the expensive Colombian coffee that smells heavenly and rich and delicious (he also pours water for Jerry and orange juice for himself).

"I'm at a loss," Jerry says and closes his eyes, letting out a sigh.

Cotton sees his moment, gets the small velvet-covered box out of his pocket and falls to one knee in front of Jerry before he opens his eyes. It takes only a second, and when Jerry opens his eyes he blinks once in confusion at Cotton's apparent disappearing act before he realizes to look down and sees Cotton on one knee offering the velvety box and the ring inside and wearing a sheepish grin he's so known for.

For a moment Jerry just stares, then throws the cigarette away to cover his mouth with both hands and then just nods like crazy, his brown eyes shining.

"So, a yes?" Cotton makes sure, still a bit sheepish, still in the same position, and Jerry just tackles him onto the floor in a tangle of long limbs with a laugh that always makes Cotton feel like the sun is shining no matter where he is.

"Of course it's a yes, you wonderful man!" Jerry replies, showering Cotton's face with tiny kisses and finally sitting up on Cotton's hips and taking the box from Cotton to look at the ring properly. He takes it out and turns it in his hands before handing it to Cotton and holding out his left hand. Cotton slides the ring into Jerry's ring finger and it's a perfect fit (thank God). "The whole setup is a bit of a cliché," Jerry says but smiles warmly still," but I really don't care, I love it. I love you. Of course I'm going to marry you. I was waiting for you to pop the question."

"Not for long I hope?" Cotton grins.

"My darling man I would've married you the second I met you," Jerry laughs and stands up, offering his hand to help Cotton up (which really does not help at all because if Cotton would seriously take Jerry on his offer, he would instantly pull him off balance. Their size difference is, after all, remarkable). Cotton takes Jerry's hand but stands up on his own and dusts off his pajama pants before stepping close to Jerry, taking his left hand into his and giving the ring a look before he gives Jerry a long and sweet kiss.

"I'm sorry you had to wait for so long, then," Cotton says with a slight grin. "But now, the breakfast before it gets cold." He gestures towards the table. "Did I tell you that you're going to love the coffee?"

"You might have mentioned it's good," Jerry says with a chuckle and sits down, letting Cotton pull him a chair and everything.

"It's better than good, it's divine. It will ruin all other coffees for you," Cotton says and bites into his breakfast the moment he's sitting down.

Jerry gasps. "I can't drink it then, imagine only drinking one kind of coffee for the rest of your life," he says and starts eating as well, much slower than Cotton who's basically wolfing down the eggs and bacon.

"But that coffee is worth it," Cotton says with his mouth full of food.

Jerry chuckles again and takes a sip of his water, waiting for the coffee to cool down a little before actually tasting it. "How did you wake up before me? You didn't stay up all night, did you?" he asks, and immediately remembers the one time he woke up during the night. He narrows his eyes a little at Cotton, all feigned. "You clever bastard, you lied to me about the work thing."

"Sorry, babe," Cotton grins at Jerry apologetically over the table. "I had to."

Jerry sighs melodramatically. "Well, maybe I'll let it go this time. Because I got such a nice ring and everything," he says and pretends to admire the ring on his finger. It's really just a regular white gold ring, there's absolutely nothing special about it. Cotton could have gone really special, but he thought Jerry would like a simple ring the most, not some tacky monstrosity with a 12-carat diamond in it. He had almost considered these old Green Lantern themed rings he saw in the window of some comic store while passing by (he doesn't really read comics anymore), but he didn't know if Jerry is familiar with Green Lantern from his childhood or if it has any meaning to him whatsoever (he needs to ask about that: it's important to know what comics and cartoons, if any, Jerry was into when he was a kid), so he gave up on that particularly nerdy alternative.

"And hey it's a perfect reason for you to stay in bed for some extra after breakfast since I'm really tired and I need a nap before I'm going anywhere," Cotton grins at Jerry.

Jerry smiles back at him. "Very good."

Thank God neither of them has to be anywhere before noon.


	2. 02

It's a fucking disaster. The fucking vegetables burst into flames for some reason Maverick just can't comprehend and he has to throw water quickly on them before the sprinklers have a chance to kick in and now there's water and pieces of charred vegetables everywhere. While Maverick is too busy trying to salvage the veggies the rice boils over and suddenly there's bubbling rice all over the stove, and how do people make food, Maverick just doesn't understand! He turns all the stove tops off so there won't be any fires anymore at least and leans to the messy kitchen counter, burying his face in his hands, and then he smells something burning, again, and remembers the motherfucking soufflé in the oven. He opens the oven and waves his hands to get all the smoke away (thank God the hood's fan is still working) and tries to grab the soufflé only to burn his hand because he forgot oven mitts in his panic. And now the sprinklers kick in and suddenly everything in the kitchen is drenched from Maverick to the ruined food to the fucking nice bouquet of flowers he had picked up. It had a hand-written card, the ink's surely going to wash out, and at that point Maverick just stops caring, turns the oven off but lets the stupid burned soufflé stay there, and leans his back to the counter, letting the sprinkler water wash over him like his own personal depressing little raincloud.

It wouldn't be so bad if the apartment he's doing his now-ruined Valentine's dinner at wasn't Benny's. It wouldn't be so bad if Benny wasn't due home from work within ten minutes, and there is no way Maverick has the time to clean the place up and pretend nothing happened. He could just give Benny a kiss and offer the chocolates (oh motherfucker he had lifted them on the table from his bag, the whole box is drenched along with everything else) and say 'Happy Valentine's Day, dumbass', but now he's made a mess of Benny's kitchen and if he has really shitty luck the city fire department is going to show up too (he doesn't know if the sprinklers are hooked up to the building's fire alarm system but holy shit he hopes they aren't). Even the bouquet and the chocolates are fucking ruined and Maverick looks like shit too since he's drenched to the bone. The sprinkler finally turns off, leaving the kitchen wet and smelling vaguely like something is still burning.

He just doesn't know what to do so he just stands there helplessly and waits and thinks about what to tell Benny. His burned hand hurts like hell, but about that he hasn't had the time to care at all.

Man, how can anyone ruin something so completely? And why did it have to be on Valentine's Day, which Maverick for once wanted to be special because Benny's tolerated him for so long already. But no, of course it's his shitty luck and shitty skill of ruining things that forbids him from ever doing anything right. That would be the universe cutting him some slack and of course that is out of the question.

He hears the clinking of Benny's keys from the door and he doesn't even know what to expect when he sees Benny step in from the corner of his eye. Benny leaves his messenger bag with his coat, smells something wrong, notices Maverick and strides with long steps to the kitchen, eyes sparking confusion and anger.

"What the hell happened here?" he demands immediately, looking at the devastation in the kitchen.

"I tried to make you dinner," Maverick replies defensively, his arms crossed over his chest. Water drips down to his face from his hair.

"Looks like you tried to burn the place down instead," Benny points out, still hovering between angry and confused and a tiny bit concerned. "Why the fuck would you try to make dinner, you can't cook."

Maverick glances at the pieces of paper Ramona wrote for him with clear instructions on how to do everything he wanted to: the papers are now wet and the ink's all smudged. And Benny can't even appreciate the effort: why would he, Maverick is such a fucking disappointment at absolutely everything. Can't even cook a fucking simple dinner (it's not like he was trying to make something difficult. Or, well, the soufflé was probably way out of his league, but he wanted to _try)_ or make a nice Valentine's Day experience for his amazing boyfriend. He covers his eyes with his hands (and yelps because the burned hand hurts) and bursts into tears. And even that feels like a dirty trick (although it's not, Maverick's just so upset), because of course Benny gets worried immediately and steps next to Maverick and all the anger washes away from his face.

"What happened to your hand?" Benny asks first of all and takes Maverick's hand in his, looking at Maverick's bright red palm where blisters are already forming. He opens the faucet and forces Maverick's hand under cool water, although it's much too late for that now.

"The motherfucking stupid-ass soufflé burned it," Maverick replies with a hiccup. "I wanted to make a special Valentine's dinner for you but you're right, I can't do anything right, I can't even fucking cook, I'm just a fucking disappointment who ruins everything," Maverick mumbles between sobs. What a fucking joke. "I wanted it to be special and now it's just a fucking mess."

"Mav…" Benny says with the look that's become very familiar to Maverick (not pity like Maverick used to think, but concern and confusion with a hint of affection) and pulls Maverick into a tight hug. "You're not a disappointment."

"Fuck yeah I am, can't do even simple shit right and now I've ruined your kitchen."

"Nothing's ruined, we just need to dry everything up. Everything's okay," Benny says soothingly, petting Maverick's wet hair.

"I even bought you f-flowers and chocolate and even those are ruined because of the motherfucking sprinkler," Maverick sniffles, gesturing towards the table and the drooping bouquet and a slightly malformed box of chocolates.

"Holy shit, Mav," Benny says quietly and Maverick misses the slight blush and look of impression on his face. "I'm so fucking sorry everything went wrong, but I think it's the thought that counts."

"It's a shitty thought so who even cares," Maverick mumbles, having given up on anything being at least marginally okay still. He hardly even notices Benny's still hugging him tight, he's so preoccupied by his own stupid failures.

"Maverick," Benny says sternly, using Maverick's full name for emphasis and seeks out Maverick's eyes, taking his face between his hands. "Nobody's ever given me anything on Valentine's Day. _Ever."_

"And I never will because I ruined everything," Maverick says pathetically and continues looking tenaciously away.

"No, now fucking listen to me," Benny says, holding Maverick's face. "You tried. You have no fucking idea how much I appreciate it. The flowers are still gonna be ok. A little bit of water never ruined chocolate. We're gonna order some really nice takeout and we're gonna watch some movie together and we're gonna make this a really good Valentine's Day, just the two of us. And we'll fix that hand of yours, even if we have to go to the emergency room because of it. Also I bought you this," Benny says and sticks his hand into his pocket and pulls out a small jewelry box that he hands to Maverick.

Maverick looks at Benny dumbly.

"Open it, dumbass," Benny says and rolls his eyes.

Maverick does, and the box reveals a silver pendant of a cat, its tail is in an 'S' shape. It's dangling from a black leather string.

"I don't know if you like it, but you like cats, so," Benny says, sounding a bit uncertain. "It made me think of you. You don't have to wear it or anything, just…"

"I'm gonna wear the shit out of it," Maverick interrupts him, staring dumbly at the cat pendant. He really likes it. It's perfect. He doesn't really wear jewelry outside of his piercings, but he can easily hide the pendant underneath his shirt and then it's just a thing that is his and Benny's and nobody else's and he loves those kind of things. He raises his head and finally looks at Benny. "I love it," he says.

Benny smiles in relief at him. "Good, I was sorta scared you'd hate it since I know you don't wear stuff like that, but… good. So, um, how do you think about my plan?"

Maverick scowls. "I wanted to do Valentine's Day stuff for you and you end up just doing Valentine's Day stuff for me."

"You know there's next year, right?" Benny says and smiles that one smile he guards like the greatest treasure in the world; the one that lights up the whole room. "You have a whole year to practice and perfect your cooking skills."

"I've had like 23 years to perfect my fucking cooking skills and I still end up burning shit down, I doubt one year is gonna make a difference," Maverick says, but all in all, he feels a lot better about everything, and Benny has moved closer to him again. He reaches out to give Benny a very clingy hug. "Thanks for not yelling at me more than that."

"It's really not a big deal," Benny says comfortingly and hugs Maverick back. "You know I overreact."

"Yeah," Maverick replies. "But yeah let's get takeout and watch a movie and, like, cuddle the rest of the evening if that's ok with you."

"That's perfectly okay with me," Benny says with a smile and takes Maverick's hand as he leads him away from the devastated kitchen.


End file.
